Galleri Brandstrup is delighted to announce the exhibition «Støvet fra fjorårets planter blant nye spirer» by Elin Melberg.
In this exhibition, Melberg unfolds new and ambitious textile works, where plant-dyed and synthetic threads, inherited fabrics and found materials are woven into reflections on time and memory, often incorporating traces of past generations.
A limited-edition zine created for the exhibition is also available at the gallery.
The exhibition runs until 11.10.2024 - Welcome!
Elin Melberg – Støvet fra fjorårets planter blant nye spirer
Opening: 18 September, 18:00–20:00
On view until 18 October
Open: Tue–Sat, 12:00–17:00 (Fri & Sat until 16:00)
Highlights:
Zine launch: Støvet fra fjorårets planter blant nye spirer: signed & numbered (100 copies)
Reading by Anders Baasmo at the opening: two short excerpts from the zine
Artist Talk: with Elin Melberg & Irija Øwre – Saturday, September 20, at 14:00
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Elin Reboli Melberg
Elin Reboli Melberg (b. 1976, Stavanger) works at the intersection of personal experience and social engagement, navigating the tensions between vulnerability and resilience. Over the years, she has explored a variety of techniques, drawn to processes that require both repetition and endurance—methods that allow spontaneity while demanding focus. Her artistic practice is deeply rooted in materiality, where textiles, embroidery, and weaving become both meditative acts and conceptual statements.
Trained at Winchester School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Melberg initially worked with large-scale installations, intricate sculptures, and mirrored surfaces before shifting towards textiles. Her turn to weaving and embroidery was not merely a technical transition but a response to personal upheavals—a way of grounding herself in the slow, deliberate nature of handcraft. She has since become known for her expansive textile works, blending plant-dyed and synthetic yarns, inherited fabrics, and found materials, often incorporating traces of past generations.
Melberg’s process is marked by accumulation. Time, memory, and material intertwine in her works, whether in handwoven tapestries, layered textile sculptures, or embroidered surfaces that bear witness to both loss and renewal. In "Elove" (2014), she embroidered the final text message from her father, a conceptual turning point where grief took form in soft, tactile materials. More recently, her practice has expanded to include plant-dyed yarn, where colors extracted from pine, rhubarb, and tansy merge with synthetic threads, creating a tension between the organic and the artificial—between preservation and transformation.
In works like “Etter før. Før etter” ("After before. Before after"), created in response to her mother’s sudden accident, Melberg captures the liminal space between stability and rupture. The weaving itself embodies this transition—the shift from vibrant colors to weightless, unfinished white threads echoing the uncertainty of time suspended. Elsewhere, she has translated MRI scans of her mother’s brain into woven textiles, demonstrating her ability to process trauma through material and form.
Beyond her personal narratives, Melberg engages with broader social and political structures. Her participation in the critically acclaimed "Vástádus eana – The Answer is Land" (2021), a textile-based stage design for Elle Sofe Sara’s performance, reflects her commitment to collaborative and activist-driven projects. The production, which won the Kritikerprisen, has been touring internationally, bringing textile traditions into a contemporary, politically charged discourse.
Throughout her career, Melberg has drawn inspiration from textile pioneers such as Magdalena Abakanowicz and Synnøve Anker Aurdal, recognizing their ability to transform historically domestic techniques into radical artistic statements. Like them, she embraces imperfection—dropped stitches, tangled threads, uneven weaves—as integral elements of the work itself. Rather than concealing process, she foregrounds it, allowing the work to reveal itself as something fragile yet insistent, delicate yet unyielding.
Her works are included in major collections, such as Nasjonalmuseet, Equinor, Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Haugaland Kunstmuseum, and Kistefos, and she has exhibited extensively across Norway and internationally. Whether working on an intimate scale or large immersive installations, Melberg’s art remains a deeply personal and profoundly universal investigation into time, labor, memory, and resilience.
Galleri Brandstrup, founded by Kim Brandstrup and Marit Gillespie in 2000 at the historic Madserud Gård in Oslo, was a pioneer in relocating to Oslo's emerging gallery district, Tjuvholmen, in March 2010, where we continue to thrive. Our gallery is renowned for its representation of Nordic masters and influential figures in contemporary Nordic art. We proudly collaborate with some of today’s most innovative and globally recognized artists, including our exclusive representation of Marina Abramović and Joseph Kosuth in Scandinavia, reflecting our close ties with the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York.
Committed to showcasing artists with distinctive conceptual and visual expressions, we host monthly exhibitions year-round in our gallery space. We maintain strong relationships with Norwegian and Scandinavian museums and foundations, leading to numerous significant exhibitions. Notably, we organized the "Mark Quinn" exhibition in collaboration with White Cube Gallery, London, and Kistefos Museum, Norway, in 2011.
Our extensive museum collaborations include Marina Abramović's "Entering the Other Side" at Kistefos Museum (2014), Sverre Bjertnæs at Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum (2018), and Per Kleiva's memorial exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus (2018). Recent projects include Steinar Haga Kristensen at Trondheim Kunstmuseum (2021), Lars Ramberg at Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall (2021), Apichaya Wanthiang at the Munch Museum (2022), Diana Al Hadid at Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall (2023), Sverre Bjertnæs with Fredrik Værslev at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium (2024), and Steinar Haga Kristensen at Kunstnernes Hus (upcoming 2025).
In addition to our gallery exhibitions, we specialize in bringing contemporary art to both public and private spaces. Our focus lies in site-specific and thematically driven installations, often realized in collaboration with in-house or external artists. Our site-specific projects prioritize meticulous planning and consistent regulation throughout the process. These projects entail close cooperation with artists, clients, and, at times, architects, interior designers, and landscapers.
Among our memorable site-specific projects is Joseph Kosuth's "A Monument of Time" at Krona Kultur og Kunnskapssenter in Kongsberg, Norway. It stands as the largest commissioned contemporary art project in Norway, featuring 136 neon elements integrated into the walls as a tribute to the town's history. Another remarkable endeavor is Kjell Erik Killi Olsen's large-scale bronze sculpture "Woman Seeking the Wind" in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Fredrik Raddum's installation "The Sky is the Limit" at Skatt Øst for the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
In 2014, Galleri Brandstrup, in collaboration with Eli Lilleng Ertvaag, established our sister gallery, BGE Contemporary Art Projects in Stavanger, Norway. For more information, please visit www.bgeart.com.
Galleri Brandstrup
Tjuvholmen allé 5
N-0252 Norway
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galleri@brandstrup.no